Student rights cases don't make court docket

By- Compiled from wire reportsOctober 3, 2000

WASHINGTON
— The US Supreme Court acted yesterday in three cases that have implications for students' rights.

In one, the justices set aside a ruling that let public-school pupils in a Florida county choose a student to give a prayer or other message at a high-school graduation. The justices ordered an appeals court to restudy the case in light of their decision in June to bar student-led prayers at football games.

In the second, a Kansas teen suspended for drawing a Confederate flag lost his appeal. The court turned away arguments that the suspension violated the boy's freedom of speech. Confederate flags are listed among items that the school deems "racially divisive or creates ill-will or hatred."

Finally, an elementary school that uses race as a factor when selecting students survived its court challenge. The justices let stand rulings that a laboratory school, which is run by the University of California and used to study racial groups' learning skills, has a justifiable reason for considering race.

In other action, the court allowed the actors who played Cliff and Norm on the TV show "Cheers" to sue the show's producers. The justices let stand an appeals-court ruling that reinstated the lawsuit by George Wendt and John Ratzenberger. The actors claim their identities were exploited by two life-size talking robots at a series of bars.